Big Type Is Best for Aging Baby Boomers
A Case for Universal Graphic Design
Baby boomers, take heed: your vision is diminishing...rapidly.
As the largest population group in history moves into middle age, the incidence of vision impairment -- including those that make it difficult to read small print -- among middle-aged and older Americans is rising. According to Lighthouse International, the leading resource for people who are visually impaired, large type is best not only for people who are visually impaired, but also for all of us as we age.
In one decade -- a figurative blink of an eye -- when all of the nation's baby boomers are 45 or older, 20 million will report a visual impairment (The Lighthouse National Survey on Vision Loss, 1995). That means by the year 2010, 20 million boomers will experience functional vision problems even when wearing glasses or contacts. This statistic bolsters the argument for promoting design of printed materials that are accessible to as wide a group of people as possible -- in large type, braille and raised letters.
Lighthouse International is taking steps to increase public awareness of the growing need for broader application of universal graphic design standards, particularly among the professional design community.
"Age-related vision loss is a ‘large type public health issue'," says Barbara Silverstone, DSW, former President and CEO of Lighthouse International. "Our research indicates that vision impairment increases dramatically with age. It is our goal to underscore the need to incorporate principles of universal graphic design into all visual media, so that they are truly useful and legible to the largest possible population."
"Hoodwinking" Boomers into Buying
For years now, manufacturers have been anticipating the aches, pains and ills of aging boomers, the largest and wealthiest demographic group in history. Unbeknownst to baby boomers, virtually every ilk of marketer from cola maker to thermostat designer, as well as boomer-friendly retailers, have introduced products geared toward accommodating the physical and sensory limitations of this aging group.
Understanding that boomers are forever young at heart requires some savvy psychology on the part of manufacturers to avoid the pitfalls of directly "selling" to their diminishing abilities -- and risk alienating them as buyers. For marketers, that means creating universally designed products that, under the auspices of being smarter, are actually geared to a market that is simply, well, getting older.
Lighthouse International does not buy into this baby boomer marketing strategy. In keeping with the organization's philosophy, The Lighthouse Store offers products that are specially designed to ensure greater accessibility and increased functioning for people with impaired vision -- without the pretense -- and products that make life easier for everyone.
Promoting Legibility Standards in the Design Community
While universal design is exploding in the product market, the professional graphic design community has been slower to adopt its principles. That needs to change, according to Lighthouse International. As the baby boomers enter middle and later life, they represent a significant segment of society that will require new considerations when designing visual media. Otherwise, there will likely be a major backlash against hard-to-read visuals as this powerful group exercises its influence and demands greater legibility.
Recognizing the growing need of this boomer population, mainstream publications like Reader's Digest and The New York Times are printing large type editions -- and have turned to Lighthouse International for guidance.
According to Dr. Silverstone, aside from normal age-related vision changes, baby boomers are likely to suffer vision impairments resulting primarily from age-related eye diseases such as macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma and diabetes, which can significantly reduce the ability to read.
Lighthouse International advocates the broad adoption of key universal graphic design tenets to create an environment that's easier on everyone's eyes -- with or without visual impairment. As a leader in vision rehabilitation research, Lighthouse International acts as a resource for the professional design community.
The organization offers guidelines -- many based on the work of Lighthouse researchers -- for designing legible text and for selecting colors that contrast effectively for people with vision impairments, including congenital color deficiencies. Wider leading and spacing of characters, and printing on matte as opposed to glossy paper, are also recommended to designers. Strictly speaking, universal graphic design would also include the use of braille and raised letters.
According to Aries Arditi, PhD, Director of Vision and Accessibility Research, "People with macular degeneration, the predominant cause of vision impairment in older people, require more space between letters and lines to distinguish individual letters and to trace the path of text from line to line. Many people with impaired vision also have special difficulty with highly reflective paper that can cause glare."
"These design standards help communicate a message clearly to the broadest possible audience without compromising the quality and creativity of the graphics," says Connie Birdsall, Senior Partner and Design Director of Lippincott & Mercer, the leading corporate and brand identity firm. The firm worked with Lighthouse International to create the new identity system.